When a would-be robber walked into Ernestine Aldana's south side convenience store last month, he didn't know he'd brought a knife to a gun fight.

Aldana pulled out her Colt .38 Special, and the man ran out.

Lubetkin asked Aldana what Washington should or shouldn't do about guns.

"We do need guns, especially for decent people like myself because if I wouldn't have had that gun, I believe he would have hurt me seriously because he was a big guy," Aldana said.

When it comes to assault weapons, Aldana said she doesn't need one to defend her store, and she would be OK if they were banned.

"Assault weapons, I mainly look on as for military use, police use, SWAT teams, but a normal person, no. But handguns, yeah," Aldana said.

Lubetkin took the same question to Pardeep Kaleka, whose father was killed at the Sikh temple in August.

He has partnered with a former white supremacist, Aldo Michaelis, to speak to school groups about tolerance.

The two men said there's no easy answer to the gun issue. Both men said the solution lies somewhere in mental health screening.

"Maybe we need to sit down and say, 'OK if we're watching these people, and they're involved in these extremist activities, should we be arming them?' What types of guns should we be allowed to give out to people?" Kaleka said.

"I think it's a slippery slope. We don't want to get to the point where we say, 'Well, we see that you went to this website once, so therefore you can't own a firearm,' but at the same time, when people have outright associations with organizations that clearly declare war on the government, I think that's an indication that that person is not responsible enough to own a firearm," Aldo said.

The challenge, they said, is keeping guns in responsible hands and out of irresponsible ones.

The president is expected to release his plans on gun control Wednesday.